Debra Samuels has lived in Japan with her family for more than ten years. She began her married life in Japan, raised school age children there, took cooking classes, worked in a Japanese company, taught cooking and has written many articles on Japanese food and culture for American and Japanese magazines and newspapers. She is a regular contributor to the Food section of The Boston Globe, and has been teaching cooking in Lexington, Massachusetts for twenty-five years. The American Embassy has sponsored Debra's cooking demonstrations throughout Japan, and back home in the United States she has designed and led cooking programs for civic groups, universities, and for the Japanese Embassy in Washington, DC on obento, the popular Japanese lunch box. In addition she has also presented workshops on Korean cuisine for numerous organizations including the Korean Consulate in New York City and Columbia University. When she worked at the Boston Children's Museum in their Japan Program, Debra developed innovative food programs for children and cooking workshops for teachers. She is the co-author with Taekyung Chung of The Korean Table, Tuttle Publishing (2008). Her second book My Japanese Table: A Lifetime of Cooking with Friends and Family was published in Fall 2011.